Mitt Romney Was Never Running to Be Part of the Resistance

After announcing his Senate run in Utah, the former Presidential candidate happily accepted Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Photograph by Kim Raff / Bloomberg via Getty

Last month, after Senator Orrin Hatch, of Utah, announced his intention
to retire, which officially opened the door for Mitt Romney—the former
Republican Presidential candidate, former governor of Massachusetts, and
current owner of property in Utah—to seek Hatch’s seat, Benjamin Wallace-Wells wrote:

The anti-Trump wing of the Republican Party has not lacked for lonely
heroes. If anything, it has too many of them: John McCain, Susan
Collins, Bob Corker, Marco Rubio, Ben Sasse—each has had moments of
deeply felt yet short-lived rebellion against the President. This
dynamic is inscribed in the modern history of the Republican Party;
the G.O.P. of the past half-century has been home to some moderate
politicians, but they have not often gathered behind an agenda, as a
faction. Romney himself has made no sign of wanting to be part of such
a faction, even if it existed. One of his advisers reminded me last
week that Romney took the idea of being Trump’s Secretary of State
seriously, and believed that Trump’s interest in him was entirely
sincere. And, a month after his appalled reaction to Charlottesville,
Romney tweeted praise for Trump’s speech before the U.N. General
Assembly.

Romney officially announced his candidacy on Friday. On Monday,
Trump—who once said that Romney “choked like a dog” during his 2012
Presidential campaign—wrote a tweet lauding the decision. “He will make a great Senator and worthy successor to @OrrinHatch, and has my full support and endorsement!” Trump wrote. On Monday night, Romney—who in March of 2016 gave a speech in which he called Trump “a phony, a fraud” and repudiated the endorsement Trump gave him in 2012—responded with gratitude. “Thank you Mr. President for the support,” he tweeted. “I
hope that over the course of the campaign I also earn the support and
endorsement of the people of Utah.” Romney is widely expected to win his
Senate seat easily.